Blessed

Yesterday Ramona received her baby blessing at church and got all dressed up for the occasion.
Babies are blessings in and of themselves.

School's out for the summer

Six reasons why it feels like summer:

1. Homemade Ice Cream

Pictured above are strawberry sorbet and pluot sorbet. Here is the recipe we used for Strawberry, adapted from Sugar Pie on Yahoo Answers:

Strawberry Sorbet

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 pints strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup light corn syrup
less than 1/4 teaspoon guar gum

Bring the sugar, guar gum, and 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer, without stirring, until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.

Put the strawberries and lemon juice into a food processor and puree. Press the strawberry puree through a strainer to remove the seeds.

When the sugar syrup has cooled completely add it to the strawberry puree. Add the corn syrup and stir well. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

2. Father's Day

This Father's Day was Forest's first one as a daddy--a job he seems to enjoy very much.

3. Garden Zucchini

We have six zucchini plants in our garden right now and will soon have zucchini coming out of our ears. I won't know what to do with them at the same time I won't know what to do without them.

4. Garden Herbs

Fresh picked basil + olive oil + parmesan cheese + pine nuts + salt = pesto delizioso.

5. Swimming

Last weekend we went over to Parry's to play some tennis and jump into the pool. Although Ramona did not participate this time around, she did look the part during the few minutes she kept a little sunbonnet on her head.

6. School's Out

Last but not least, my online class is over. As much as I appreciated the chance to learn about adolescent development for five weeks, right now I would rather focus on infant development by observing our baby Ramona. Teenage Ramona can wait a while longer . . .

Ramonamontage #1

My apologies to the people who check this blog for the sole purpose of receiving Ramona updates and are disappointed by the small number of pictures documenting her existence. The truth is, we have taken hundreds of pictures of our new resident princess. Here are just a few, in age-order:

One week old:

(above: first bath, in an ice cream bucket)

Two weeks old:

(above: her natural mohawk-esque hairdo)

Three weeks old:

Four weeks old:

Five weeks old:

Six weeks old:

("reading" one of her favorite books)

(above: her favorite post-meal position)

Seven weeks old:

A smile is worth . . .

I have now joined the ranks of parents who make meticulous efforts to document their child's every action or expression--no matter how small or trivial it may seem to someone else.

Ramona has been smiling "on cue" for a few days now, and yesterday I determined to catch her little smiley face in digital form. I realize how silly I must have looked holding a camera above her head, making those high-pitched, overly exaggerated vocal inflections only babies appreciate . . .but for me, it was worth it.

Back in business

The ice cream machine is up and running again. Although we used to crank out an average of two flavors a week, production had come to an abrupt halt when my pregnancy introduced a sudden aversion to various foods--including ice cream. Despite my encouragement for Forest to continue churning without me, he insisted that it seemed like a pointless activity to do alone. Thus began the dry spell for ice cream making in our home, and the machine did nothing but gather dust for the next few months while Forest settled on store-bought ice cream--eaten straight out of the container like in his bachelor days.

With the birth of our baby and the return of warmer weather came a renewed interest in our forsaken hobby, and we are back in the ice cream making business. So far we have made strawberry, blueberry, banana, and orange cardamom. Of the four, blueberry turned out the best.
We followed the Daziano's Blueberry Gelato recipe from Italialicious. The only adjustment we made was adding a pinch of guar gum to the half cup of sugar going into the egg yolks. This helps prevent an icy consistency after the batch goes into the freezer.

Forest and Ivy plus One

Two years ago today marks the beginning of Forest and Ivy Dixon.

One month ago today marks the beginning of Forest and Ivy Dixon plus one.

We've all grown in so many different ways.

Hear no evil

So far Ramona has agreed to let me tote her around in a couple of different "babywearing" devices. Here she is below in a sling crafted by my friend Aubrey.
Perhaps she consents to riding in them because it provides a sort of respite from the outside world--and helps to block out any disturbance or distraction that might interrupt her innocent slumber. She looks so peaceful sometimes, it almost makes me want to climb into a sling and take a nap, myself.